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This depends entirely on your choice of components. Our glass tubes can be recycled. We have natural rubber bulbs in stock, and our HDPE and LDPE lids are recyclable.

We offer a range of PET, Glass LDPE and HDPE bottles which are more environmentally friendly.

There are mixed views in the industry on this, glass is perceived to be more environmentally friendly than plastic due to being easily recycled; however, let’s not forget the carbon footprint – glass recycling requires an enormous amount of energy.

There are a number of different film types (polymers) used in plastic packaging. Thin aluminium layers may be added as a moisture barrier, and other types of polymeric plastics are added to get different properties (e.g., bendability).

Our team can work with you to create your own (bespoke) sustainable packaging solution (e.g. Types of pipette components, plastic or glass bottles, aluminium, or plastic lids).

We offer a range of sizes in aluminium lids.

Due to the nature of our process and customer base, we do not split down pack sizes and operate most efficiently when handling pallet quantities.

We have a separate facility which has the sole purpose of stock-holding and distribution. Our range isn’t limited to what we have in stock; however, we also leverage our partnerships and good relationships within the supply chain to ensure that we can continually broaden our range.

No, otherwise it wouldn’t be a MINIMUM order quantity. We do have reliable distributors set up for smaller order fulfilment, one of which will be able to supply you with our products in the exact quantities you desire.

Please be free to contact any one of our friendly customer service team to get a real-time update as to our stock situation on the items you are interested in.

We continue to invest in our systems and transportation network to become more efficient in our delivery times.

As we work towards our comprehensive and sustainable strategy, several of our glass bottles are made from recyclable glass. Speak to one of our team today to understand what glass bottle is right for you.

The glass used for pharmaceutical containers is either borosilicate (neutral) glass or soda-lime-silica glass. Pharmaceutical glass bottles are still made from raw material; however, Type I, Type I and Type III go through different processes depending on their final use (storing powders or liquids).

Amber, cobalt, and green glass containers give the most UV light protection for products that are susceptible to damage from the light transfer. Each glass colour provides different levels of protection from UV light, with amber giving the highest protection, cobalt offering medium protection, and green the lowest one

The volume of amber glass bottles manufactured per year is in the billions. Blue and green bottle demand is less and therefore more expensive – the economy of scale plays a key factor in coloured glass bottle pricing.

Amber glass bottles give the most protection from UV rays and potential light damage to the product within the bottle. It has outstanding capabilities of preserving the substances contained within extended periods of time.

Miron glass specifically (dark glass) allows only violet, ultra-violet, and infra-red rays to pass through it. It works as a natural filter, blocking the multiple colours of the spectrum of light it creates.

The value of the lighting passing into the product improves the quality of the substances in the bottle – thus a longer shelf life.

PET – Polyethylene Terephthalate, is a thermoplastic polymer resin. PET is transparent when heated and cured.  It is virtually unbreakable and requires a multi-stage production process to create packaging. It is widely used in healthcare, cosmetics, and food and beverage packaging.  Variants of PET include OPET, PETE, EPETE, PETG and PCTG.

PP – Polypropylene is a popular plastic used in a wide variety of packaging including flexible packaging and closures. PP has extremely strong barrier properties and is resistant to chemicals. Polypropylene is naturally translucent, but it can be produced in a solid opaque colour, or as a clear finish using a clarifying additive. PP is soft to the touch and is susceptible to scratching and scuff marks.  Polypropylene offers good barrier properties to oxygen transmission (OTR).

HDPE – High-Density Polyethylene has a high resistance to chemicals and moisture (MVTR) which makes it suitable for food packaging. HDPE is typically used in applications requiring a degree of resilience, the material is relatively hard and resistant to transit scuffs.  Despite the strength of HDPE it has low resistance to heat.  Elevated temperatures will reduce the stiffness of the plastic and cause it to become very soft.

LDPE – Low-Density Polyethylene carries many of the characteristics of the HDPE variant but is extremely flexible. LDPE is reasonably resistant to squeezing and impact and provides a good chemical and vapour barrier while being pliable.  Like HDPE it has poor temperature stability and poor gas and UV barriers. LDPE is translucent or opaque with a waxy or glossy sheen.

All of these basic polymers are used in pharmaceutical applications; however, the grade of material will differ from those used in other markets.  Licenced drug products are registered with a Drug Master File (DMF), ensuring only approved polymers tested with the drug are used to safely contain the product.

The selection of polymer for pharmaceutical packaging will depend on the intended regional market.  There are regulations and requirements specific to certain continents and these are encapsulated within pharmacopoeia, the most common of which are European (EUP), North American (USP), and Japanese (JP).

Some applications require special polymers to be used that will not react with sensitive drug products, for example, Cyclic Olefin Polymer COP

Sterilisation is the process of killing microorganisms (and their spores) from the plastic containers. Sterilisation is crucial for many applications.  We can advise you in selecting the best sterilisation process for your package, this may include autoclaving, exposure to ethylene oxide gas, or irradiation by gamma or e-beam.

Protecting children from poisons, active medicinal products as well as, household cleaners, tobacco products etc. is crucial. It is recommended to keep these types of products far from the reach of children, but this usually doesn’t work in practice as some children still manage to access them. This is where child-resistant (CR) packaging becomes effective. It ensures that children can’t open the containers and gain access to the products.

Child-resistant packaging is specifically designed to prevent children younger than 52 months from opening the packaging, yet must allow adults to gain access to the contents. Child-resistant packaging consists of safety mechanisms and physical barriers to prevent children from accessing toxic or harmful substances. There are specific test Standards that packaging must meet in order to constitute a child-resistant pack, these vary according to geographical market.

It is important to remember that regardless of the packaging design or the geographical market, a child-resistant pack is never ‘child-safe’. The packaging is intended to delay access.  The best prevention to accidental ingestion is to keep these products securely closed and out of sight and reach of children.

We have range of ‘complete packs’ that we can advise you on. We have a large range of bottles, jars that we have run compatibility test with a range of closures to ensure your product is safe.

We have also developed the Unopac and the Medopac which is CR compliant and compatible.

We have a large range of customers from all around the world. We would be happy to share testimonials and feedback from our loyal customer base.

We have a number if options that has both tamper evident and child resistant designs. Speak to our team of packaging technologists to establish the correct pack formation for your product.

For many of our products, we are the manufacturer, particularly the pharmaceutical plastic bottle ranges we have in stock. If we do not produce it, we have got strategic partnerships and investments with packaging partners which allows us to deliver glass packaging to market at record speeds.

A pipette bulb acts as a vacuum source for filling liquids through a pipette (glass or plastic) and helps to control the flow of liquid from the dropping bottle. They can be made from natural rubber or TPE (Thermoplastic elastomer). They are also available in butyl/nitrile blend, are very resilient and are used with products which may degrade other types of rubber.

A commodity code is a sequence of numbers made up of six, eight or ten digits, and determines customs duties and other charges levied on goods for import and export.

You can search UK Trade Info to find the right commodity code. You can also use the UK Trade Tariff tool to search for import and export commodity codes as well as the tax, duty and licenses that apply to goods.

We need commodity codes to help correctly declare our goods, which ensures that we pay the right amount of tax and duties, as well as helping us take advantage of any Customs benefits where relevant, such as duty suspension or preferential duty rates.

Tamper Evident (TE) and Child Resistant (CR) packaging consist of safety mechanisms and physical barriers to prevent children from accessing toxic or harmful substances. They are specially designed to make it difficult for children to open bottles, thus protecting children from poisons, active medicinal products as well as, household cleaners, tobacco products etc.

Dispensing volume is determined by the barrel size inside the neck of the bottle. We have a range of sizes available ranging from 0.2 ml to larger volumes.

Basically, anything that is harmful if consumed such as poisons, pharmaceutical or medicinal products as well as, household cleaners, tobacco products etc.

Contact our friendly staff at Origin.

Liners are used in lids to cause a better seal and avoid leaks. Our R&D team is constantly looking for plastic-free or more environmentally friendly options such as silicone liners, which are more costly.

Some believe that Silicone is more environmentally friendly than plastic. It is made from silica, which is derived from sand, and manufacturing silicone does not involve mining for crude oil, which most plastics are made from. It is also more durable than plastic so it lasts longer. Silicone is recyclable but not biodegradable, however, it does not break down into micro-plastics either, which makes it ocean-friendly and less harmful than plastic.

One of the reasons why silicone is considered to be a good alternative to plastic is because it doesn’t contain the harmful chemicals we’ve become aware of that linger in plastic items, such as phthalates and BPA. Physically silicone has a better heat resistance and is considered to be non-toxic and safe for contact with food and drink. It is also considered a material of choice for essential oil-infused products, as glass and silicone are known not to react with essential oils.

Others argue that Silicone isn’t the most environmentally friendly material on the market, because producing silicone uses some types of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum, which isn’t sustainable. It’s difficult to recycle, and most facilities won’t accept it. With that said, silicone is a suitable alternative to plastic — it’s just not the best.